RAF Marham is located south-east of King's Lynn in Norfolk. It was home to front-line squadrons of Tornado GR4 aircraft which have since disbanded in March 2019. New infrastructure has been built to support the new F-35B Lightning II aircraft which began arriving in 2018 to form 617 Squadron. More squadrons of F-35B Lightning II will be based at RAF Marham in the future.

It is also home to the Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing, No.3 RAF Force Protection, No.2620 (County of Norfolk) Sqn (Royal Auxiliary Force) Regiment and No.6 RAF Police Squadron. The British Army Royal Engineers as well as the RAF Marham Aero Club are based at RAF Marham.

Plane Finder tracks mainly civilian flights but does also include some military aircraft such as the Tutor, Tucano, Hawk, Voyager, BAe 146, Squirrel HT1, and Sentinel R1 etc which can be seen over the UK. ADS-B Exchange (Click on Global Radar View) tracks many other military aircraft such as Tornado, Typhoon, F-15, Hercules etc over the UK.

Aircraft & Squadrons
The Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing, who are responsible for the processing and exploitation of fast-jet electro-optical imagery, on deployed operations, exercises and routine training, are based here.

It is also home to No.3 RAF Force Protection Wing headquaters as well as No.2620 (County of Norfolk) Sqn (Royal Auxiliary Force) Regiment and No.6 RAF Police Squadron.

The British Army Royal Engineers as well as the RAF Marham Aero Club are based at RAF Marham.

History
RAF Marham was opened in 1916 and was a military night landing ground. The aerodrome was later handed over to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

It was closed in 1919 until 1935 when work on a new airfield started and it became active in 1937 with a resident heavy bomber unit from 3 Group, RAF Bomber Command. Aircraft included the Fairey Hendon bomber, Handley Page Harrow, and Wellingtons. In 1941, the Wellingtons moved out and Mosquitos arrived which became part of the Pathfinder force. In 1944, RAF Marham closed while new concrete runways, perimeter track, and dispersal areas were built.

After the Second World War, RAF Marham operated the Boeing Washington aircraft, and later the Vickers Valiant & Handley Page Victor (V Bombers). The station was large enough for the operation of USAF Boeing B-52 aircraft which visited in the 1970s and 1980s for exercises.

Twenty four Hardened Aircraft Shelters were constructed to house the Tornado which arrived in 1982. Each shelter was able to store four WE.177 nuclear bombs.

The new F-35B 'Lightning II' fleet will be based at RAF Marham from 2018 and the base is currently undergoing enhanced infrastructure to support these aircraft. The F-35B will be operated by 617 Squadron RAF, 809 Naval Air Squadron (Fleet Air Arm), an unnamed RAF Squadron, an unnamed Naval Air Squadron, 207 OCU Squadron RAF, and 17 Squadron RAF (Operation and Evaluation, currently based at Edwards AFB, USA). RAF Marham will have a mix of Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel, and both will deploy aboard the new Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.

In the Summer of 2018, F-35s and personnel of 617 Squadron will arrive at RAF Marham. They will then undergo an intense phase of training to be able to declare a land-based Initial Operational Capability by the end of the year. The Lightning OCU, 207 Squadron will follow and occupy new buildings adjacent to the new Dambusters facilities at the Norfolk base in due course. In the UK, 207 (OCU) Squadron will initially operate five to six aircraft and within about two years have a full complement of eight F-35Bs.

With no two-seat F-35s the training of pilots is heavily reliant upon simulators. Fortunately, the F-35 Full Mission Simulator allows you to train everything from the most basic skills, all the way up to teaching and assessing students in tactical formations against potent enemy threats.

Tornado Farewell
The RAF Tornado was withdrawn from service on 31st March 2019, and brought to an end four decades of service, during which the aircraft has formed the backbone of UK airpower. RAF Tornados returned home from Operations for the last time on 5th February 2019. Their last operational sortie took place from RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus on Thursday 31st January. This marked the end of over 28 years almost continual Operational deployment for the Tornado Force.

Three training variants of the Tornado received special markings including a camouflage scheme which the Tornado sported in its early career. These three Tornados took off from RAF Marham, on Wednesday 23rd january 2019, and refuelled over the North Sea before being photographed via a fourth RAF Tornado and then returning back to Marham. For more information and photographs then click here. There was also a Tornado Farewell Flypast over three days on Tuesday 19th February 2019, Wednesday 20th February 2019, and Thursday 21st February 2019, as well as a nine-ship Tornado flypast on Thursday 28th February 2019. Details including Flypast times, NOTAMS and a map of the route for each day can be found here.

F-35B Lightning IIs at RAF Marham
In April 2018, 617 Squadron was reformed to fly the new Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II aircraft. Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson announced the reformed squadron at an event in Washington DC to mark the centenary of the RAF.
The UK currently has sixteen F-35B Lightning II aircraft (as of October 2018) as well as Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, in South Carolina, and also Edwards Air Force Base in California which is presently home to 17 Reserve Squadron OCU performing operational test and evaluation.

On Wednesday 6th June 2018, four F-35B Lightning IIs (ZM145, ZM146, ZM147 and ZM148) were supported across the Atlantic by RAF Voyager tankers as well as an A400M Atlas transporter which was carrying spares, support equipment and engineers in case any F-35s had a problem and were diverted to land.

A second batch of F-35B Lightning II landed at RAF Marham in August 2018. These included five F-35B Lightning II aircraft (ZM140, ZM141, ZM142, ZM143 & ZM144) which crossed the Atlantic and landed at RAF Marham on Friday 3rd August 2018 at about 9.30pm. The F-35s were met by a Tornado GR4 over Land's End, Cornwall which escorted them to RAF Marham in Norfolk. This brings the total number of F-35 Lightning IIs, at RAF Marham, to nine aircraft.....

A third batch of six F-35B Lightning II aircraft crossed the Atlantic and landed at RAF Marham on the evening of Tuesday 16th July 2019. These six aircraft (ZM137, ZM139, ZM149, ZM150, ZM151, ZM152) belong to 207 (OCU) Squadron and will be based at RAF Marham where they will train Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots. The role of an operational conversion unit (OCU) is to teach pilots how to fly the aircraft and which tactics best exploit the performance of their aircraft and its weapons.